Vehicles with a hood covering the engine compartment often include hood bumpers. The hood bumpers may serve as protection for other parts of the vehicle in such situations as over-slamming of the hood. In addition, when the hood is in a closed position, the hood bumpers may allow for deformation of the hood when a significant force is applied on it.
For such situations, programs such as regional NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) and Global Technical Regulation (GTR) have developed safety standards and criteria, including head impact criteria (HIC), that may require the hood to deform a sufficient distance to meet the criteria. To achieve this, some vehicles employ hood bumpers or brackets that break away when experiencing a significant amount of force, causing the hood to deform, and thereby providing a buffer before hitting hard components in the engine compartment.